The present invention relates in general to telecommunication systems, and more particularly, to an apparatus, method and system for topological channel assignment for focused beam, fixed wireless telecommunication systems.
With the increasing sophistication of telecommunication networks, there are an increasing number of alternatives to wireline distribution of telecommunication services to customer premises, in addition to the traditional or known twisted pair, coaxial cable and fiber optic distribution systems. More particularly, due to the expense of physically distributing wires, cables, or other transmission media to customer premises, wireless technology is becoming increasingly cost advantageous for distribution of such telecommunication services to customer premises.
Particular problems arise, however, with such wireless distribution of telecommunication services. One such problem concerns the saturation of a given region or cell, with demand for transmission bandwidth potentially exceeding availability. Another significant problem for wireless distribution of telecommunication services concerns potential interference in neighboring regions.
Various proposed solutions for such saturation and interference problems have been inadequate, expensive, and computationally intensive. For example, one proposed solution includes consultation with neighboring cells to determine which channels are active and to calculate potential interference patterns. For such a solution, the addition of new channels is increasingly difficult, with a high potential for saturation. In addition, the assignment of channels on a variable basis typically requires significant calculations and monitoring, having significant information processing requirements and a corresponding significant usage of network resources.
As a consequence, a need remains for an apparatus, method and system for efficient wireless distribution of telecommunication services. Such an apparatus, method and system should have a greater capacity for avoiding saturation, and avoiding interference in neighboring regions. In addition, such an apparatus, method and system should be capable of cost-effective implementation, without requiring significant processing resources.
An apparatus, method and system are provided for topological channel assignment for focused beam, fixed wireless telecommunications. The apparatus, method and system of the present invention provide for efficient wireless distribution of telecommunication services, and have a significant capacity for avoiding saturation and for avoiding interference in neighboring regions.
The preferred system embodiment includes a plurality of transceivers coupled to a telecommunications switch, in which each transceiver utilizes a narrow focused beam preferably on the order of ten degrees, for full duplex communication with fixed customer premise equipment. The various channels may be formed utilizing code division multiple access (xe2x80x9cCDMAxe2x80x9d), time division multiple access (xe2x80x9cTDMAxe2x80x9d) or other time division multiplexing, frequency division or frequency multiplexing, or any combinations thereof.
The geographic region is divided, preferably, into a plurality of adjacent cells having a hexagonal topology, in which each adjacent cell utilizes a distinctive, orthogonal code set, preferably from a 10 MHz spectrum, utilizing code division multiple access (xe2x80x9cCDMAxe2x80x9d). As communications channels, the various code set assignments may be dynamically determined at any given time based upon, for example, density characteristics such as usage levels and geographic locations of a plurality of customer premise equipment.
In the preferred system embodiment, the switch includes instructions for determining the cell configurations, determining an available code set for a selected cell, and within the selected cell, determining the plurality of focused beam ranges to create a corresponding plurality of sectors. The various focused beams will also scatter or disperse into adjacent sectors, creating regions of potential interference, referred to as interference regions.
In the preferred system embodiment, the switch includes further instructions for determining a plurality of channel subsets for the corresponding plurality of sectors, wherein each channel subset of the plurality of channel subsets consists of the available channel set excluding an exclusion channel subset of a plurality of exclusion channel subsets. For example, the available channel set for a selected cell may consist of five subsets A, B, C, D and E, referred to herein as exclusion subsets. For any given sector, the switch may determine and assign a channel subset, consisting of the available channel set excluding one of these exclusion subsets, such as excluding subset B, forming a channel subset consisting of A, C, D and E (referred to herein as channel subset xcx9cB).
Next, for each interference region of the plurality of interference regions, the switch includes further instructions for assigning the exclusion channel subset of an adjacent sector of the plurality of sectors. For example, to avoid interference with the sector having the channel subset xcx9cB defined above, in the preferred embodiment, an adjacent sector will utilize exclusion subset B within the corresponding interference region.
Also within the preferred embodiment, the switch includes instructions for determining the plurality of channel subsets as a number of channel subsets equal to the arithmetic sum of (1+RSI), wherein RSI is the smallest ratio of (a range of a sector, of the plurality of sectors) to (a range of its interference regions with its neighboring sectors). In the event that RSI is fractional, RSI may be rounded down to the next lowest integer, or treated as discussed in greater detail below. For example, in the preferred system embodiment in which the sector range is 10 degrees and the interference regions are each 2.5 degrees, RSI equals 4, and the available channel set is divided into five channel subsets, such as xcx9cA, xcx9cB, xcx9cC, xcx9cD and xcx9cE (or, equivalently and without loss of generality, corresponding exclusion subsets A, B, C, D and E).
As a consequence of such channel assignment, the apparatus, method and system of the present invention provide for efficient wireless distribution of telecommunication services, maximizing channel re-use, with a significant capacity for avoiding saturation and for avoiding interference in neighboring regions.
Another significant feature of the various embodiments is that channel assignment may be performed dynamically, as needed, to respond to changing environmental conditions. A greater number or a lesser number of channels, such as codes, may be dynamically assigned to a given region to accommodate network traffic conditions and density characteristics at any given time.
Another significant feature of the present invention, as illustrated in detail below, is that the methodology is not computationally intensive. As a consequence, the various implementations of the invention do not require significant processing resources, and the apparatus, method and system of the present invention are capable of cost-effective implementation.
Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims and from the accompanying drawings.